Loop-automatic and manual drive



Nov. 3, 1942. N. E. KLEIN LOOP-AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL DRIVE Filed Jan. 6,1940 I NV EN TOR.

WORM/7A 5. A1 E/(V ATTOREEY.

Patented Nov. 3, 1942 LOOP-AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL DRIVE Norman E. Klein,Chicago, 111., assignor, by mesne assignments, to InternationalTelephone 8: Radio Manufacturing Corporation, a corporation of DelawareApplication January 6, 1940, Serial No. 312,666

Claims.

My invention relates to automatically driven devices provided withauxiliary manual control,

and more specifically to rotating loop antennas provided with automaticand manual driving means.

It is frequently desirable to include with devices that areautomatically driven a manual control for purposes of fine adjustmentand the setting of a zero,.or a reference point. If the manual controlis rigidly connected to the automatic driving means, the manual controlmust be in operation at all times. This practice results in considerablewear and unnecessary motion.

An object of my invention 'is to provide a manual control that is notnecessarily in operation when the automatic driving means is in use.

With any arrangement that allows the manual control to remaininoperative when the automatic driving is used, if there is an indicatorassociated with the manual control, some provision must be made formaintaining the indicator in step with the driven member. A commonmethod of making the manual controlindependent of the automatic drivenuses a clutch arrangement, but a clutch arrangement usually 'allows themanual control to operate during any portion of the rotating membercycle.

A further object of my invention is to allow the manual control tooperate only at a predetermined point in the rotating member cycle.

' A further object of my invention is to mini- 'mize errors introducedby back lash and play in the interconnecting driving means.

In a preferred structural embodiment of my invention a rotatable loopantenna is driven by a motor, and a cam and a relay are adapted to stopthe motor at a. predetermined point in its rotation. The motor drivesthe rotatable loop through a planetary gearing system and a manualcontrol is connected to the planetary gearing system in such a mannerthat the manual control is not necessarily operative when the motor isdriving the rotatable loop.

My invention will be more clearly understood by the description inconnection with the attached drawing, the single figure of which is anembodiment of my invention.

In the figure the motor I is provided with a split ring commutator 2,two slip rings 3 and 4, brushes 5, an armature winding 8, a serieswinding 1, and a shunt or series winding 8. The motor i drives therotatable loop shaft 8 by a shaft I0, pinion II and the planetarygearing system containing planetary gear l2 and ring gear i3.

When it is desired to automatically drive the rotatable loop, switch 2|is closed to the motor position. In this position the relay 22 is notenergized and the relay switch 23 is in a down position. When switch 23is in the down position, series field I and armature 6 are connected inseries through the split commutator 2, and winding 8 is a shunt field,the motor thus acting as a compound motor. With the inotor in operationthe ring gear I3 is held stationary by the worm 20, and the loop isrotated by the pinion ii and the planetary gear l2 associated'with thesupport 24.

1!, when it is desired to change over to manual control, the motor wereallowed to stop at any random position, there would be no directindication between the indicator H and the position of the loop 9. It istherefore desirable, if not necessary,'to stop the loop at apredetermined position so that the loop bears a fixed relation to thepointer on the indicator ll. To do this a cam 25 is provided which, dueto the gears 26, rotates at the same speed as the loop. When the switch2| is closed to the side labeled Manual, the motor i operates at areduced speeddue to the insertion of a resistor 28 in series with themotor and the battery source 29. The loop continues to rotate after theswitch is closed to the Manual side until cam 25 closes the contacts 21the slip ring action, the motor armature will no longer rotate but willassume a fixed position determined by the flux action of the windings Band i. It may be seen, therefore, that the rotatable loop 9 will alwaysstop in a position determined by the previous manual control adjustment.

Because of the magnetic action between the coils 8 and 6, the pinion Iiis held in a fixed position. The manual control apparatus can now beused to rotate the loop shaft 9 through the agency of'gears l8 and I8,comprising a crank l5, reduction gear box I6 and flexible cable l1, worm20, ring gear l3, and planetary gear l2.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention the rotation of crank I5 isgeared down by means of the gear box It and geared up by means of gearsl8 and it. This arrangement has the further advantage that play and backlash in the cable I1 is minimized since, due to the gearing ratios, theamount of play that is normally present in such a cable, will causenegligible effect at either the indicator ll or the loop antenna.

While I have shown particular gear ratios between the driven and drivingparts, any desired gear ratio may be utilized. However, it has beenfound that gearing in the direction that I have shown, is preferableboth for constructional reasons and accuracy of setting.

With suitable switching arrangements, the compound motor shown may besubstituted for by either a series motor or a shunt motor. Due to itsoperating characteristics, however, the compound motor arrangement shownis preferred While I have described particular embodiments of myinvention for purposes of illustration, it will be understood thatvarious adaptations and modifications thereof may be made within thespirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An arrangement for automatically and manually controlling a rotatableloop antenna comprising, a motor comprising an armature winding, a splitcommutator ring and slip rings connected thereto, and a field winding, ashaft driven by said motor, a planetary gearing system comprisingplanetary gears, a support attached thereto, and a ring gear inengagement therewith, a pinion attached to said shaft for driving saidplanetary gears, a rotatable loop shaft attached to said support, amanual drive comprising a crank, an indicator controlled by said crank,gears driven by said crank, a shaft driven by said gears, further gearsdriven by said shaft, and a worm gear in engagement with said ring gearand driven by said further gears, and means for stopping the firstmentioned shaft in a single predetermined position comprising a camdriven by said first-mentioned shaft, contacts operated by said cam, arelay coil connected to said contacts, a source of energy for saidmotor, switching means for connecting said source to said motor only orto said motor and in series with said relay coil and said contactsdepending upon whether automatic or manual control is desired, andswitching means actuated by said relay cell for connecting said fieldwinding in shunt and said armature winding in series with said splitcommutator ring when said relay coil is inoperative and for connectingsaid field winding and said armature winding in series with said sliprings when said relay coil is operative.

2. An arrangement for automatically and manually controlling a rotatablemember comprising a manual drive shaft, a motor drive shaft.motion-combining coupling means between said two drive shafts and saidrotatable member for transmitting to said member a combined rotarymotion made up of a first component proportional to the rotation of saidmanual drive shaft plus a second component proportional to the rotationof said motor drive shaft, an indicator coupled to said manual driveshaft, whereby said indicator may be driven from said manual drive shaftand may indicate said first component of motion of said rotary member,control means driven by said motor drive shaft and cyclically producinga control condition at a rate corresponding to said second component ofmotion, and means stopping said motor drive shaft in a positiondetermined by said control condition to bring said rotatable member torest in a positioncorresponding to the position of said indicator.

3. An arrangement according to claim 2 wherein said motion-combiningcoupling means is of a type effecting a reduction of 1:1; between therotation of said motor drive shaft and said first component of rotarymotion of said rotary member, K being an integer; wherein said controlmeans for cyclically producing a control condition comprises a contact,a control cam, gearing for transmitting from said motor drive shaft tosaid cam a rotation equal to said first component of rotary motion, andmeans for actuating said contact once per rotation of said cam; andwherein said stopping means comprises aligning means for aligning saidmotor drive shaft in a fixed position, and means for stoppin said motordrive shaft under Joint control of said contact and said aligning means.

4. An arrangement for automatically and manually controlling a rotatablemember comprising a manual drive shaft, a motor drive shaft, amotion-combining coupling means between said two drive shafts and saidrotatable member for transmitting to said member a combined rotarymotion made up of a first component proportional to the rotation of saidmanual drive shaft plus a second component proportional to the rotationof said motor drive shaft, an indicator, means for driving saidindicator from said manual drive shaft at such rate as to indicate saidsecond component of motion of said rotary member, a control cam, meansfor transmitting from said motor drive shaft to said cam a rotationequal to i/N of said second component of rotary motion of said memher,an electrical contact, means for actuating said contact N times perrotation of said cam. N being an integer, and stopping means forstopping said motor drive shaft under control of said contact to bringsaid rotatable member to rest in a position corresponding to theposition of said indicator.

5. An arrangement according to claim 4 wherein N is l.

NORMAN E. KLEIN.

